Author's Note: I'm thinking that maybe I should stop writing late at night. I sat at the doctor's office for three hours today, and I wanted to write this SO bad. But I had no paper -cries-. So, now I'm going to torture Ron a little bit. I'm proud of myself, though. I managed three decent-length chapters over a five-day break. That's an accomplishment, especially after being stuck for so long.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter not mine. The explanation of premonitive power, however, is mine, as is the twisted fabrication of connections between everything I've ever read about magic. I'm not making any money, don't worry.
I crept through the corridor on the seventh floor fifteen minutes later, feeling like an idiot for not thinking of the Room of Requirement sooner. Instead of coming straight up here, I'd fumbled around in the cupboards near the library, hoping I'd get lucky.
I hadn't.
I'm not quite sure when it dawned on me, but when I realized exactly where I could find candles, I ran up to the seventh floor immediately.
As I reached the tapestry and the space where the door should appear, however, I noticed that something was wrong. Instead of a blank wall, the door was already there.
Oh, hell, I thought, moving toward the room anyway.
Just then, the door opened a little, and I froze, not sure I wanted whoever it was to see me.
To my surprise, the head that poked out had a great deal of bushy, very familiar hair attached to it.
"Hermione?" I hissed down the hallway. The head jerked around and it was, indeed, Hermione. She motioned me inside and quickly shut the door behind me.
"I wondered if you'd think of this. I didn't remember it until you'd left, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered splitting us up." she whispered breathlessly, locking the door.
"I only just thought of it," I admitted. "I haven't got anything of Harry's yet," I added, looking around.
Now, the room was much smaller that it had been the last time we'd used it, probably only three meters square, if that. Piled up in a corner of the back wall were several boxes of candles, of all sorts, several of which Hermione had already lit and bewitched to levitate around the room.
"--Fine," Hermione was saying, "we've already got the Cloak, remember? I'm just sorry I didn't think of it sooner." She sat down near a small, unframed mirror and a long, gleaming knife.
"So, what now?" I asked quietly, still studying the uncluttered room.
"We wait." she replied, pulling out several scraps of parchment and beginning to memorize all the properties of a several new runes, mouthing them to herself.
"Don't we need to draw the circle, and stuff: I asked uneasily. It was strange to be alone with Hermione.
"Yes, but we won't need to do that for another couple of hours or so. Get some of your homework done, the Room will help you."
I checked my watch. Ten minutes to nine. It was going to be a long night.
MWMWMWM
"I don't understand," I muttered, checking my watch for the fiftieth time. Ten minutes past nine.
"What don't you understand, Ron?" Hermione asked absently, now quizzing herself on one of the runes.
"Why the spell has to use midnight. Why does it even matter?" I sulked, scowling at the blank wall.
"Ron, aren't you in Divination? Even if Trelawney's an old bat, I'm sure you should have come across scrying by now! It's the most reliable type of Divination, almost any witch or wizard can do it." she lectured, tearing her attention from the runes in order to stare at me in disbelief.
"But why midnight?" I ignored the part about the homework.
"Because, Ron, all Premonitive powers are amplified at midnight. That's when the powerful Doors begin to open. Just be glad we aren't trying to scry a ghost! The Door to that plane doesn't open until four in the morning!"(1)
"Alright. I get it, relax. It has to be at midnight so the ghosts can help us See where the hell Harry's got to. Got it." I assured her. She sighed, but only went back to her runes, muttering a little. I got the feeling that she wanted to hex me.
I checked my watch again, and heaved a frustrated sigh. Only a quarter past. Bloody hell.
MWMWMWM
"Ron." I nearly jumped with excitement. I had been fidgeting for the last two and a half hours, pretending to read a book that the Room had provided.
Hermione sighed, shaking her head, though I was sure I'd seen the corner of her mouth grin. "It's time," she stated, rather unnecessarily.
I jumped to my feet as she began Vanishing the small amount of clutter and sending our unneeded belongings back to the dorms with a nifty little variation that I'd never quite gotten the hang of.
"So remind me what we're going to do?" I asked, watching her. She had translated for me in a whisper, but I only half remembered.
"We draw the circle, light the candles, cut ourselves, and watch the mirror." She rolled her eyes, as if to add 'honestly'.
"Alright," was all I said, not ready to get into an argument about something stupid and miss our chance to find Harry.
"I'll perform the rituals myself, don't worry. Just hold your wand and repeat after me."
"Good." I was relieved; I certainly couldn't remember all the details of the rituals.
Finally, all that was left in the room were the two of us, the required four candles, the mirror, the knife, and Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
Hermione lit her wand and picked up the candles. Taking a deep breath, she moved to a corner of the room.
"I call the West to my aid, the Water is with me(2)." Ron repeated this, and the light of their wands flashed blue-green. Hermione lit the first candle, which also blazed a vivid blue. Moving clockwise very deliberately, she began the first arc of the Circle, leaving a glowing trail of wandlight behind her.
I watched her closely as she repeated the invocation at each of the quarters, her wandlight changing respectively. She had told me earlier that the Circle was to keep us from unleashing anything from another plane. I began to wonder if we should have thought this over a bit more.
When the Circle was finished and glowing on the floor, and both of us were inside the boundaries, we spoke the last line of the ritual.
"I close the Circle," intoned Hermione, and I followed her lead.
Our wands flashed briefly, and the Circle burst into being, a floor-to-ceiling wall of white light. I gasped, not expecting anything like that to happen. Hermione gave a tired smile.
"Well. I guess that'll keep anything in." I muttered, still staring.
The alarm on my watch beeped. It was midnight.
"Ready?" Hermione asked, folding herself to the ground near the mirror and the other ritual paraphernalia.
I nodded, and sat myself down next to her.
MWMWMWM
(1) Premonitive powers are the powers that make Seeing possible. The Doors are the openings to other planes. The less important or powerful ones open and close on their own, usually without a specific timeset. For example, the Door that leads to the Faery plane is open for about an hour around dusk and dawn, meaning that it changes with the seasons. However, the Door to the Cosmic plane opens at midnight, and closes at about three. The Cosmic plane's influence is the one that strengthens or weakens a witch or wizard's powers, and plays a big part in rituals that require a lot of magic. (I am twisted).
(2) She's calling the West because the West is the quarter of Water, which will also boost her Sight. Normally, for a regular Circle, she'd call the North, the Earth quarter, first, as the grounding point, but the spell calls for the West first. It takes a lot of power.
